@Not a German Speaker

data usage in China is extremely expensive
and you have probably deactivated the cost brake

depending on your  phone,

the Wi-Fi Assist may also be active,

in which case your cell phone will automatically switch

to the mobile network if the wifi is bad.

if the calls and data usage have taken place,
the costs will probably not be waived,
but you should at least complain about the bill within 8 weeks

you can use the contact form
or the english hotline

https://www.o2online.de/service/kontaktformular/

Hello @Not a German Speaker,

welcome to our o2 Community

That is of course a very high amount, it's good that you contacted us. I took a closer look at your case.

Unfortunately, you deactivated the cost protection twice via text message, so that your smartphone could use the mobile Internet abroad without any restrictions.

This means that even if you use it for a short time, the amount can be very high. Our security department have noticed the usage and then initiated the data roaming block and informed you about this via text message.

Unfortunately, we cannot reimburse the costs due to the security mechanism being switched off. I'm sorry for that.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Best regards

Giulia

Dear @o2_Giulia,

That such a ridiculously high charge is non rembursable is trully unacceptable. My deactivating the cost protection twice was due to my lack of understanding of what entailed from a message fully written in German which I have difficulty of understanding as foreigner. I really thought that it was to enable data roaming without further understanding of how the cost would stack up.

That EUR 1399 is equal to almost 2 years of prepaid subscription equipped with a premium device, and I trully think that a message fully written in German to a foreign user in a foreign country does not justify such charge due to lack of understanding from my part.

I would like you to reconsider my situation here.

Sincerely

Hallo,

da wird es keine neue Antwort/Entscheidung dazu geben.

You could have used a translator for the short German text.

What has now happened - you have canceled any cost protection (max. 60€) and have instructed o2 to use unlimited roaming data. The bill comes from the Chinese provider and is paid in advance by o2. Why should o2 pay the Chinese bill as things stand?

That is unfortunate but not understanding something does not change the contractual situation. You cannot just assume that because you don’t understand something you can just go ahead and blindly actively change a setting that is designed to avoid the problem you are now facing. It is easy to use an online translator and that is not an unreasonable expectation. Please remember that you have entered into a contract with a German company in Germany that has no obligation to provide this information in English.

I would like you to reconsider my situation here.

This is a forum. You can try sending another request to o2 to see whether they might be prepared to waive part of the amount, but please be aware that these costs have been correctly charged by the Chinese provider, so if you don’t pay them, o2 will have to bear the costs you incurred. That is also hardly acceptable.

Dear @Klaus_VoIP and @bs0,

I see the mechanism now. So the bill is charged by the Chinese government. You are right, it doesn’t make sense for O2 to pay what they charged.

Thanks for enlighting the situation for me.

Sincerely

@Not a German Speaker,

that is a very good explanation from bs0 and Klaus_VOIP, unfortunately this is the mechanism of how roaming is charged.

Best Regards,

Gerrit